17 members of Short North Posse to plead guilty

Sunday

Mar 16, 2014 at 12:01 AMMar 16, 2014 at 10:34 AM

Federal prosecutors say 17 members of the Short North Posse, a gang with two-decade-old roots in Columbus, are preparing to plead guilty to drug-dealing, illegal-weapons-possession and money-laundering charges.

Federal prosecutors say 17 members of the Short North Posse, a gang with two-decade-old roots in Columbus, are preparing to plead guilty to drug-dealing, illegal-weapons-possession and money-laundering charges.

Prosecutors say the gang distributed drugs including crack cocaine throughout Ohio and other states, and recruited people from elsewhere to join the operations in central Ohio. Millions of dollars were involved in the operation.

Many of the 22 defendants charged in December are relatives of original members of the Short North Posse, including sons and daughters.

The federal indictment said ringleaders of the violent gang used the Hollywood Casino on the West Side to launder nearly $1 million of their drug-trafficking take.

The charges came about after a yearlong investigation into drug dealing by the gang, which operates out of the Weinland Park neighborhood southeast of the Ohio State University campus, that Columbus police have been battling since the 1990s. It was called the largest and most violent drug-dealing gang in 1995 when federal and local authorities tried to shut it down.

Plea hearings are scheduled to begin March 24 in federal court in Columbus.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said charges are still pending against three of the 22. Two remain fugitives, including Jermonte Fletcher, the gang’s ringleader. Fletcher, of 5638 Wellington Woods Blvd. on the East Side, is charged with 44 counts.